An Unexpected Prank War
by hellfirerumba
Summary: Sam and Dean engage in a rapidly escalating prank war... or so Sam thinks. He should have known who was really behind this.


||A/N: This is a pretty random little mushy Sam/Gabe fic as my first one uploaded here. Reviews make me very happy and want to post more fic. :D

This war, as with every war, started with a single shot.

In this particular case, it was a very distressing and "so not funny" one (so said Dean) that was actually brilliant (so said Sam). One morning, much the same as any other, Dean woke up in a dingy motel room, much the same as any other. The difference that morning was that he found Sam smirking and looking entirely too pleased with himself, which never boded well.

Dean groaned. "What?" he mumbled, going through the motions of getting up and dressed automatically and grabbing the coffee Sam had given him.

"Nothing," Sam responded, but with a smirk like that, he was _so_ lying. Dean was too tired to pursue it.

When they got out to the car, Dean woke up in a few heartbeats, and it wasn't thanks to the coffee. A white powder was sprinkled on the ground next to the gas tank cover, which was ajar. "Son of a-!" Dean exclaimed, nearly dropping his duffel bag and sprinting the last few steps to yank open the cover, glancing at the cap and peering around for the culprit. It took a moment for him to clue in to Sam's laughter behind him as his lanky younger brother dangled a few sugar packets between his fingers. "Oh, you little..." Dean growled, shaking his head. "That was _not_ funny."

The next shot didn't take long.

That night, Dean was "out on the town" and Sam couldn't understand why the maid nearly let herself in at six in the morning the next day. It was a rude awakening for Sam, who first woke with his heart pounding, then freaked out during a frantic conversation in which he tried to finish getting dressed and keep the door locked while yelling through it that the maid shouldn't enter. Then he deduced that someone – and he thought he knew who – had flipped the "do not disturb" sign to "maid service, please" before leaving in his precious Impala the previous night.

And it was _so_ on.

Neither of them seemed to have a problem with the war, since it was hardly new to them, but neither of them saw what was coming.

Sam found himself hit fast and furious with pranks, some of which he couldn't believe Dean had managed to pull off.

Dean had deduced who was behind this mysterious assistance in about two minutes, and he was happy to take the credit for it.

Over the next few days, Sam noticed that Dean's pranks grew much more creative than usual, and some of them... he just couldn't figure out how he'd pulled off.

The pranks included filling their motel room with balloons, replacing his toothpaste with shaving cream, oddly-timed alarm clocks, panicky moments where he thought his pants were tearing and never figured out what the ripping noise actually was, confetti raining down from the ceiling fan in one motel, and more.

Yeah, Dean thought he was more than happy to watch and laugh hysterically at Sam's confusion. He didn't know why _he_ wanted to help him out all of a sudden, but he still wasn't going to enlighten Sam. It was worth getting a few familiar pranks pulled on him for this. 

* * *

><p>The last straw came when Sam was pennied into the motel room while Dean was out. He could have sworn that wasn't Dean's style, but that didn't do him much good as he yanked at the motel room door and cursed under his breath.<p>

"Son of a... Dean! Aw, come on!" Sam lamented, still confused and unhappy about not being able to go and get food.

"No need to yell," a familiar and cocky voice smirked. There was an archangel sitting on his bed, arms folded across his chest and chin tilted up jauntily.

Sam whirled about, then just stared. "Gabriel...? Wait, _what_?"

"You didn't really think your blockheaded brother was smart enough to pull off all those pranks?" Gabriel rolled his eyes, giving Sam his distinctive 'what an idiot' look.

"I... uh, I thought they were pretty good," Sam admitted with a confused little frown. "But, uh, why... are you joining in on our prank war?" Sam asked. His eyebrows were furrowed and head tilted a little in a 'desperately trying to understand' expression.

Gabriel's jaw jutted out a little before he grinned again. "Why not? Or do you mind?"

"Well..." Sam trailed off, then shrugged. "I guess I don't mind... But pennying the door?" he asked, unable to help a sigh. "Can you let me out now?"

"No," Gabriel grinned. "I don't think I will. So you like my pranks? Better than Dean's?"

Sam blinked again. He just felt like there was a big puzzle piece missing, and he kind of wanted to be let out, though he wasn't sure. "I... guess, yeah. Some of them were... funny after the fact."

"I know, I'm awesome like that," Gabriel responded, but he seemed overly pleased at the compliment, something in his eyes that Sam didn't quite recognize.

There were a few moments of silence.

"Um. Gabriel?"

"Yeah, Sammy?"

"It's _Sam_. And why are you looking at me like that?"

"Why are you so thick?" Gabriel sighed, exaggerating the roll of his eyes.

"I... uh... what?"

"I wasn't going to let Dean one-up me. And besides, he's your _brother_."

Sam really felt like he was missing something now. "What?" he repeated again, feeling particularly stupid.

Gabriel sighed. "Do I really have to explain this?" he asked thin air, then gave an exaggerated, patient sigh. "Hello, Trickster?"

Sam thought he just might be starting to understand. "Wait, so Dean... pranking me... is making you jealous?"

With another little jut of his jaw, Gabriel just stared back at him.

"...And you're not letting me go, because..." Sam trailed off, not sure even he was brave enough to venture this guess out loud.

Gabriel laughed. "Bingo," he finally responded.

Sam wasn't sure if this made things more awkward or less.


End file.
